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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He  has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?[/quote]

If you can afford it, this is the perfect profile for the top UK/EU universities.  If he can score 5’s on at least 3 AP tests and with a 1500+ SAT, he would be an easy admit at most UK schools (outside Oxbridge since that is a crapshoot and involves other testing/interviews).

In the EU: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, Maastricht, Science Po, Paris, Trinity College. If business, Bocconi. These are all top universities that focus on grades/tests. ECs are irrelevant here.

In the UK, just look at the typical top 10: Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham, UCL, Bath, Warwick, Exeter[/quote]

I would take UVA any time over any foreign schools.
Wisconsin and Ohio State are very solid schools, they will take OP easily.  Why do we have to go to a fancy European country?[/quote]

There is no arguing in state schools cost benefit vs any foreign university. BUT if he doesnt get in for some reason and the best option is another expensive OOS school or a private with no merit or very little merit, these schools make a lot of sense. There is NOTHING fancy about these schools. The EU schools are very cheap. I would take ANY of the schools mentioned above vs OOS Ohio State or Wisconsin.[/quote]

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